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haha Good thoughts/bad thoughts
1) At least part of the day sun is dead on the panels = great power production.
2) Oh, it's Fall, must tip those panels to the right angle = great power production
3) Wow! It rained today, so now my panels are clean.
4) Wow! It's frigging FREEZING cold out there today! But look at all those amps.
5) Oh oh, look at those clouds - - but wait! Wow! Cloud edge effect in full bloom
6) Cars don't last either, but they cost a heck of a lot more and don't keep my beer cold.
7) Oh oh, Grandma's getting old. Guess we'll have to bury her and hope the kids bring the grandchild to babysit so we won't be alone.
8 If I didn't drink so much beer and urinate so much of my pay-cheque (Cdn) up against the side of the neighbors fence, I'd have money to pay for grid power.
9) Oh but the satisfaction involved with that fence :p:p

Feedhorn, I should send you one of my bumper stickers: "Unplug your TV and complain all you want". And for the R rated crowd: "Unplug your 'frdige and b*tch all you want".

We do have choices in life. It's easy to go without TV, and with just a bit of work we can harvest ice in the winter and have ice for the icebox all summer. Yet, some decide they *need* a TV and then complain about the chosen process to make it work? Seems odd.

Those aren't quite what come to my mind when I think "solar power problems". Mine are more like:

- The never ending circle: More loads, more batteries, more panels. Lather, rinse, repeat! I want to maximally use the watts my panels can produce, but don't have large loads that can be run just during the day. If I add more to the system, I daily draw the batteries down farther than I like. Okay, add batteries! Oops, now I need more panels to keep the charge rate high enough (I flirt with the low end as it is - about 5%!) so now I again have more available capacity than ability to effectively use it!

- My neighbors have now witnessed the fact my house continues operating during power outages. Strangely, what they're most interested in is Internet access - surely I can let them on my wireless network?!? (I actually keep MY network up longer than my ISP keeps THEIR side up. The local node will run for about 2-3 hours before dying, mine is indefinite. Wonder if they'd let me run a power line to the node...? Oops, another load for the issue above!)

- Doggone grid power is too cheap. Just can't economically justify laying out more cash to dramatically increase my system size. But I want to!

- Just don't have enough south-facing roof!

- Hm... How to attach a solar panel to my bicycle so I can run the ham rig off of it while cruising around the lake...

But on another level, those depending totally on grid power have put all their home energy needs in one proverbial basket. Just last week was reading in American Scientific, how the North American grid could be severely disrupted for weeks, if indeed not months, if it were successfully cyber-attacked like the Irianian nuclear facilities were a while back. They spoke of how much easier it would be for those so minded, to gain access to the grid control network. In my opinion, we as a society have long ago given up on personal independence and placed the welfare of our lives and our families lives, in the hands of big corporations, not just for our electrical needs, but food and just about everything else one can think of. I call it living on the edge. Reason would say it's only a matter of time. In fact, as early as two years ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that "Russia, China and other countries", had already penetrated the US power grid, planting software that could be used to disrupt the system. And that was two years ago!

Oddly, mine did. I rarely need the diesel over the summer, but like to run it a couple of times anyway just to keep oil spread around. Did that in July, and it shook a fuse holder enough to cause a really frustrating problem.

Anytime if you operate or use something, you will have costs involved. It does not matter if it is a car, a house/dwelling or solar panels and their systems or just a plain old flashlight that needs batteries.But you also have to see the good side of it. Your car gets you from point A to B and your house provides shelter and solar panels may give you independence or give you power while others have no grid-power, while your flashlight brighten your ways.